Strategic Management for Small Businesses

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of strategic management for small businesses. It examines how organizations can identify strengths and weaknesses, implement corrective strategies, and measure their performance effectively. The focus is on change management within small businesses, including setting goals, motivating employees, and adapting organizational structures to achieve desired outcomes. The use of financial statements and tools like the Balanced Scorecard are also discussed for performance tracking and improvement.

SMALL BUSINESS
ENTERPRISE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
(a)............................................................................................................................................1
(b)...........................................................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
(a)............................................................................................................................................5
(b)...........................................................................................................................................6
(c)............................................................................................................................................7
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
(a)............................................................................................................................................7
(b)...........................................................................................................................................8
(c)............................................................................................................................................9
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
(a)..........................................................................................................................................10
(b).........................................................................................................................................10
(c)..........................................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
A business is defined as an activity whose main purpose is to generate huge profit and
survive in competitive environment for a longer period of time. Small business enterprise refers
to those enterprises which is operated in small scale and are new in market. The business can be
categorised by government on the basis of their turnover and number of employees employed in
an organisation. The small enterprise is one whose turnover doesn't exceed 6 million euros and
not more than 50 employees. Illustration of such small enterprises are bakery, clinic, small scale
manufacturing and parlours (Abebe, 2014). Project covers the profile of company and measuring
of their performance in order to compete with their rivals. The strengths and weaknesses of small
business enterprises and their action plan which help them in achieving growth and success are
also covered in this report.
TASK 1
(a)
 Name of the Business: Mainstage Travel
 Owner structure: Rob Tominey and Aden Lewin are two owners who managed the
business operations in an effective way. 15% of the equity in company is owned by
venture (Dragon) investor Peirs Linney. He is the only one who invested 100,000 euros in
order to hold 15% of ownership in company.
 History and Background: This enterprise was first introduced in the year 2011 by two
young entrepreneurs. Its main objective is to organise and manage tours and concerts for
youth. After that, they entered Den dragon for looking the venture capital. They select
Piers Linney for the purpose of getting financial help and his technological expertise.
This venture has not faces any tough situation till it is started and has attained 2nd highest
capital on the show since 2007. These capital are contributed by all the venture capitalists
and entrepreneurs due to credibility of Linney and his knowledge in technological areas.
 Activities: Company organises tours and concerts in various parts of the world in order to
attract young generation. Magaluf and Snowboxx are two famous festivals organised by
company and ranked 2nd in terms of Ski festival (Acs and et al., 2013). The company
decided the prices for concert on the basis of their targeted segment.
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 Business location: Business is operated in the United Kingdom with having its
headquartering in London.
 Contact details: [e-mail] Analysis ODF strengths and weaknesses: It is important for the business to identify
their strengths and weaknesses which help in correcting them and achieving better growth
and success in future. Identifying and rectifying their weaknesses help them in competing
with their rivals in an effective way. Mianstage Travel is also required to make an
analysis of internal factors which affect their business environment so that they can attain
a strong position in the competitive market world. Assessment of mentioned enterprise is
as follows:
Strengths Weaknesses
Attained a strong position in market
Are more famous amongst young generation
Charging effective prices
Attain huge profits
Ski Festival (Snowboxx)
Due to high competition, company faces high
challenges
Seasonal marketplace
Exclusively to a single age segment
Price wars in the market
Given table clearly shows the strengths and weaknesses of Mainstage Travel in market.
Strengths of business such as market presence, profitability, etc. will help them in achieving
competitive advantage whereas their weaknesses such as facing challenges due to high
competition and price wars in market forces a company to achieve economies of scale so that
they can organise tour at a cheaper rate. Company mostly attracts youth for their tours through
which they can attain a strong position in the market (Barber, Metcalfe and Porteous, 2016).
(b)
Mainstage Travel is good in financial position due to which they have attained a strong
market presence. But in order to maintain their current strong position, company should focus on
improving their performance. For this, company needs to implement effective measure in order
to measure their actual performance and accordingly, make efforts for improving in order to
achieve competitive advantage.
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There are various financial tools through which company know its actual financial
position in the competitive market. Such financial tools are Balance sheet, profit and loss account
and ratio analysis. With the help of all these, company can identify the reason behind incurring
losses so that they can implement specific measures and policies in order to rectify them.
Balance sheet is an important tool which depicts the financial position of company as
compared to their competitors. Every business organisation prepares its financial statement at the
end of financial year in order to analyse the overall performance they performed during whole
year. Balance sheet consists of assets and liabilities of company where assets are mentioned on
the right side and liabilities are mentioned on the left side of balance sheet (Blenker and et.al.,
2012).
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According to this financial statement, it has been identified that the liabilities of company
are decreased by 35% along with a significant reduction in assets which also fall by 60.93%.
Decrease in liabilities is a good sign for company but on the other side, falls in asset shows
decline in business.
Exponential-e is another small business strategy which supplies cloud storage services to
the people of UK. Being the small business enterprise, given company has performed well and
earned a huge amount of profits in the financial year.
The financial overview of the company is as follows:
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During financial year 2017, the financial statement of company shows that there is gain
in assets of an enterprise by 8.98 million euros. However, the liquidity of company also
improves. Company also improves their areas of operations and recruits 52 workers in this
financial year. In order to make comparison of financial position of both companies, it has been
found that exponential-e has performed well whereas Mainstage travel has facing a decrease in
the assets as well as in liquidity of company.
TASK 2
(a)
It is essentially need for company to identify their weaknesses due to which they can face
difficulties in sustaining in competitive market. Identifying weaknesses help company in
rectifying them within limited period of time so that it cannot affect that much on the
performance of company (Carraher and Paridon, 2015). The major weaknesses of Mainstage
Travel is to be confined to a particular segment of market. Therefore there are certain measures
through which the company can overcome their weaknesses:
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Intensifying Strategy: It is required for company to make an effective strategy and
communicate them to their members so that their employees can perform in the right direction.
Company can expand its business operation on a large scale through making an effective
marketing strategy. As it is important for company to communicate with the targeted customers
and inform them about the services they offered and it can be possible through adopting various
promotional strategies. The package and the quality services the company offered is clearly
required to communicate with the targeted customers which influences their interest and
behaviour. This will also help in building good image in customer's mind.
Diversification strategy: This strategy is related with providing differentiated products
and services which attracted large number of customers. The diversified strategy is categorised
into horizontal and concentric basis (Ciampi and Gordini, 2013). The company can design
packages for the couples and ageing people and provide them needed services at tourist place.
Mainstage Travel also focus on providing entertainment facilities by merging with other venture
so that they can attain good image in Customer's mind.
Modernising strategy: This strategy focuses on using modern techniques which brings
efficiency in work so as to achieve positive result. Adopting modern techniques requires huge
cost and risk due to which the company should forecast the result and accordingly decide to
implement such technique.
Integration Strategy: In order to expand its business on large scale, the company must be
required to amalgamate with other companies which can help them in reaching their services to
maximum number of customers. Mainstage Travel can either venture into hospitality business or
can collaborate it business with Thomson so that the companies together make maximum
contribution in attracting large number of customers and generate huge revenue (Di Domenico
and Miller, 2012).
(b)
There are various ways through which the company can enhance their performance. Such
ways are as follows:
 The company can improve its performance by maximising their strengths.
 Contribute maximum efforts in rectifying drawbacks.
Company can also enhance their overall performance through conducting training and
development programs to their employees so that they can contribute their maximum efforts in
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achieving organisational goals. Providing rewards to their employees brings motivation in them
which help in enhancing the performance of company.
Attracting investors through showing their financial statements which help them in
getting adequate funds to adopt modern techniques and tools in the business procedures help
company in achieving success for longer period of time (Draycott and Rae, 2011).
(c)
Mainstage travel is one of youngest and profitable tour operator in the United Kingdom.
This company can expand into two aspects:
 As an enterprise is organised tour packages and concerts for young generations.
Therefore the first area of expansion is to design packages for the couples and ageing
people in countries such as Spain and turkey countries. The company can find many
visitors in these countries therefore it is important to offer various services which grabs
an attention of large number of customers.
 An enterprise must be required to merge with other hospitality business and with the help
of them they can cover large area of country. The company should also open up hotels
and restaurants to facilitate customers so that they can maximise the level of satisfaction
and attain good image in customer's mind (Gorgievski, Ascalon and Stephan, 2011).
TASK 3
(a)
Every organisation have their own plans and strategies which directs them in order to
achieve their desired goals and objectives. Mainstage travels organises tour and concert for youth
generation. The main objective of the company are:
 Expand tourism businesses in near future
 Providing maximum satisfaction to their customers by giving them the “Best time of their
life”
 Generate employment opportunities.
Therefore in order to achieve such objectives the company must be required to develop
various plans by considering the following segments:
Employee's Vision: Employees play an important role in achieving the business in
competitive environment therefore it is important for company to identify their needs and
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requirements and accordingly fulfil them through proving training, rewards, compensation etc. It
is also important for the company to recruit skilled and knowledgeable candidates who
contribute their maximum efforts in achieving organisational objectives (Olszak and Ziemba,
2012).
Customer's vision: The customers are the one on which the success of business depends
therefore it is important for company to organise tour and concerts for them by charging low
prices and provide them best experiences of their lives. Certain policies and strategies need to be
formulated which helps in influencing customers to show their interest in participating in their
concert.
Shareholder's vision: As the venture capitalist holds 15% shares in Mainstage travels in
order to get maximum in return. Therefore the company must also be required to provide them
certain percentage part of profit so that they can support company in expansion to different
countries.
(b)
The business plans are made to achieve desired goals and objectives within limited period
of time so that they can able to compete with their rivals. Business plans are developed after
considering the internal and external factors which make wither negative or positive impact on
company's performance. The business environment is complex in nature which change rapidly
therefore it is essentially required for company to make alteration in their business plans in order
to cope up with such complex situation (Raposo and Paço, 2011).
The market research team should first analyse the needs and requirements of customers
through collecting feedbacks from them and accordingly fulfil their needs and demands. For
example: opening hotels, restaurants and providing transportation services will help customers to
visit at tourist place without facing any difficulties which maximises their level of satisfaction.
The companies also looking to improve their market share by 20% through
accomplishing the demands of different demographic segment. Spain and turkey are one of the
most popular destination in the world. To visit at such places the company need to make an
effective strategy and management which help them in providing an effective packages to their
customers. The goals of the organisation should be SMART so that the company can make an
effective plan and measures effectively.
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S- Specific: The goals must be particular so that it can be determined by all the concerned
parties. Expand in the market share by 20% is an ideal instance.
M-measurable: The objective must be required to measure and will not be in the
qualitative terms which is hard to measure. For example satisfaction level of customers is hard to
measure therefore target must be measured in quantitative terms (Sharma, Chrisman and Gersick,
2012).
A-Attainable: The goals set should be attainable with the help of employee's maximum
efforts so that it can be achieved within pre-determined period of time.
R-Relevant: The relevant of the goals to the company stands vital. The plans related to
expansion are relevant which need to be achieved by tour operator firm.
T-Timely: The objectives must be time-bounded so that it forces employees to perform
better to achieve objective in limited period of time.
(c)
It is considered as blue print which need to be followed by all members of an
organisation to achieve desired goals and objectives in an effective manner. It is important for
company to assign roles and responsibilities to each member on the basis of their skills and
capabilities so that maximum output will be achieved. Action plan will be classified into 3 major
components:
Specific tasks: The task which need to be performed through implementing plan will be
covered under this column (Southern, 2011).
Resources: The resources which are required to achieve decided task will be mentioned
under this section.
Time: Every activity has a certain time limit within the task would need to be completed
will be mentioned and addressed accordingly.
Tasks Responsibility Resources Time
Draft of a plan
Method to gather
information
Planning of resources
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Cost and time
estimates
Recruitment
Techniques of
marketing
Scope
TASK 4
(a)
Change management make a huge impact on Mainstage business and also affect the
interest of stakeholders, investors, directors etc. There are some basic sectors which are affected
by change management which are as follows:
Finance: Finance is an essentially need for every business to adopt an effective
techniques and methods in order to expand their business to large scale. Therefore changing in
management has make direct impact on the size and structure of the finance. Therefore it is
important for manager to identify the requirements for the change (Van Der Wijst, 2012).
Change in role and responsibilities: It is important for company to make an effective
team and Assign roles and responsibilities to members on the basis of their skills and knowledge
so that it will not harm the interest of employees which allows them to contribute more in
achieving desired objectives.
Technology changes: It is important factor which help company in fulfil the needs and
demands of targeted customers. Changing in technology will help small business enterprises to
enhance the scale and parameters in the market.
(b)
Implementing change size, scope and structure will involve huge risk factor therefore
small business management follows the moderate approach of operate business operations.
Kotter’s change of model helps to clear the image of change management.
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Creating Urgency: This step indicates the changes made in organisational structure in
order to deal with emergencies situations occurred with market situation, forecasting of market
crisis.
Centralised the power: There are certain group of people and team who retains powers
and capacity to perform their delegated task in an effective and efficient manner. This step help
to adopt that change management (Wang and Altinay, 2012).
Create vision: The company need to make a vision statement through describing the
nature of the activities and analysing the result the company is focused on.
Communication vision: The vision of company must be communicate with different
departments of an organisation so that they can perform in right direction.
Encouraging others: It is required for company to implement motivational programs for
their employees so that they can focus ion mission statement and accordingly perform in better
way.
Short term goals planning: This step involves the change made in organisational
structure to achieve short term benefit.
Combine the improvement and production plan: In this step structure production and
process is required to integrate that help company in improving the production and capability as
per the changed plan.
New approaches: It is required to communicate new plan and strategies to their
employees so that they can easily adopt changes in their given task.
(c)
It is important for company to measures their actual performance in order to find out the
deviation or problems they faces so that they can excel the result by putting maximum efforts in
maximising them (Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Owned Business Definition, 2017). Balanced
scorecard is an effective tool which is required to use by company to track performance of
company as well as employees which help them in finding out the issues and impact of changes
in an enterprise. Balance score card works related to these factors:
Objectives: What are the main objective and how it will be achieved, what are the
benefits they can achieve in near future and efforts required to achieve target.
Financial performance: The management system is responsible to manage and utilises
the financial resources in an effective manner. For example opening new plant requires huge cost
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therefore the finance management analyse the performance of employees and provide them
guidance and direction to bring positive result to company.
Efficiency: It is important for company to adopt effective techniques and methods which
helps in bringing efficiency in work and achieve better possible result.
Customer satisfaction: It is essentially required for company to maximise the level of
satisfaction of customers by fulfil their needs and requirements. For this, it is important to collect
feedbacks and views from them and accordingly provide effective customer care services.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that the small business enterprise should be
required to make efforts in order to achieve strong position in competitive market through
identifying their strengths and weaknesses and accordingly implement corrective strategy and
measures in order to rectify their performance. Financial statements such as Balance sheet, P&L
a/c etc. need to be made by company on annual basis which help them in knowing their accurate
financial position among their competitors. This project report will help in understanding the
dynamics of change management and step and procedure in order to change culture and the
structure of the organisation which help an organisation to achieve desired goals and objectives.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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